Debut author Alyssa Pickering's PRINCESS OF LIES, the first in a fantasy trilogy in which a young woman, forced to marry the crown prince and ensure that he never discovers the illegal magic running through her veins, must control her powers and her growing feelings for the prince's rebellious brother, to Rachel Winterbottom at Wayward TxF (Transworld/PRH) in a pre-empt, for publication in January 2027 (UK/Comm excl Can). German rights to Luebbe at auction.

Author of GIRL A Abigail Dean's THE MISSING YEARS, about a young boy's disappearance from his bed in the middle of the night and the ripple effects throughout his family and community over the course of 55 years, told in increments of one day at a time, every five years, to Anne Speyer at Scribner, by Jenny Bent at The Bent Agency, on behalf of Juliet Mushens (NA) and to Julia Wisdom at Hemlock Press (UK), in a major deal, for publication in July 2027.

Stephen Aryan's SILVER TONGUED DEVILS, following a group of skilled mercenaries, set in an epic fantasy world, where their new job drags them into a town whose population is being controlled by magic, to Marcus Gipps at The Broken Binding Press, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2027, by Juliet Mushens at Mushens Entertainment (world English). Audio rights to Katie Arlett at Audible UK, at auction, by Juliet Mushens.

After turning down a first pre-empt attempt from a rival publisher, Faith Gladwin’s THE FINALIST, was successfully pre-empted by Grand Central Publishing’s John Morgan (NA) and Renegade Books’ Christina Demosthenous (UK/Comm) in a major mid-six figure deal less than 24 hours before the multiway auction was scheduled to begin. Pitched as Black Swan meets The Haunting of Hill House, THE FINALIST is an adult horror debut, following the fate of seven hopeful ballerinas as they audition for the solo of a lifetime in a remote manor house. One by one the ballerinas succumb to freak accidents, but who – or what – is killing the contestants?

UK/Commonwealth rights to STORMKEEPER by Jacinta Tomás were sold at auction to Chloe Gough at Harper Voyager for publication in 2027. In a world inspired by Portuguese culture and history, Stormkeeper follows Avila Santos, a farmhand whose rare elemental magic captures the attention of the palace, and those who believe in an ancient prophecy. The first in an epic fantasy trilogy, STORMKEEPER is as Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar meets Maria V Snyder’s Poison Study.

UK/Commonwealth rights to FELLOW CREATURES, the debut novel by Emma Lowther were sold in a five-way auction for six-figures to Katherine Burdon at Quercus. To be published as a lead title in Spring 2026, FELLOW CREATURES is Saltburn meets If We Were Villains, with a dash of The Talented Mr Ripley, following outsider Shannon – a new student at one of London’s most prestigious drama schools – as she becomes dangerously infatuated with a fellow classmate. 

Katrina Kittle’s I FORGOT TO KNOW YOU Harper wants to solve a mystery from her mother’s childhood but her mother now has dementia and Harper isn’t sure if the traumatic event her mother keeps referencing is real or imagined. Her Sherlock Holmes-loving teenage daughter insists that they investigate her past. What they find upends everything they thought they knew about their mother and grandmother.  By Maria Whelan at Mushens Entertain to Claire Wachtel at Union Square (WORLD).

World rights for Bestselling author of NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD Luke Dumas's FURY ON THE WAVES, about a family at breaking point whose dream Alaskan cruise becomes a nightmare amid evidence of a monster lurking beneath the stormy seas, and FOREVER HOME, a tale of haunting and mental illness following a married couple at war with their unhinged (and potentially deadly) elderly neighbour. World rights to Loan Le at Atria, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2028 and 2029. 

UK/COMM excl CAN rights to WE DO NOT WEEP FOR THE DEAD and Book 2 by Kim Curran, The Irish Times Bestselling author of The Morrigan and Brigid, a dark fantasy novel is centred around a keener who refuses to sing for a tyrant’s soul, in doing so she breaks the oldest law of the Singing Sisters, resulting in her banishment from the sisterhood. Independently, she must stop the monster she refused to bless from tearing down the veil between her world and the afterlife, with the help of a charismatic scribe named, Daire, who she meets along the way. Rights to Ruth Akins / Michael Joseph.

UK/Ire rights to Joyce Dignam at Sandycove for THOSE AROUND YOU by Ailbhe Reddy. THOSE AROUND YOU, a literary psychological thriller by debut writer, Ailbhe Reddy.  Every family follows a script to survive a tragedy. For fifteen years, the Doherty family has stuck to theirs: Jennifer Doherty ran away with a lover in 2001 and was likely killed by him.  But in 2016, that script is shredded by Miranda Stein, a ruthless American podcaster hunting for mass appeal. She contacts Jennifer Doherty’s daughter, Christine, hungry for some intel on what actually happened to her mother.  Miranda pulls at threads the Irish police ignored, specifically, the controlling behaviour of Christine’s father, Tom. As Miranda’s viral investigation, “Those Around You” gains millions of listeners, as she systematically dismantles the Doherty family’s idyllic history.